Double Trouble
by Tollivandi Silverwing
Summary: A blind girl and a young gambling addict go up against a terrorist who isn't what she seems.
1. The Dual Spirit

_Tolly: Here's the sequel to _Blackpowder._ It takes place fifteen years after the end of _Blackpowder_, and features Anna's daughter and niece, along with characters from Swordsman of Fire's _Elemental Alchemist_ (and its sequel!)…It's a collaborative storyline, and you should probably read all four stories involved._

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Robin O'Reilly elbowed her way through the crowd at Central Station, heading towards the sound of a cooling steam engine. Eagerly, she listened for thick-soled boots and a light female step.

Without warning, she was grabbed around the waist from behind and heard her cousin Emma's giggle. "Gotcha!"

"Don't do that!" cried Robin, laughing as well.

"It's nice to see you again, cuz," said Emma, letting Robin go and sitting on the ground to put her boots on; she had snuck up on Robin in only her stocking feet. "See being a figure of speech, of course."

"But of course," said Robin. Having been blind her whole life, she was used to ignoring the many commonly used phrases involving sight. "So how's everyone doing?"

"The whole clan is fine. When I left, Little John was recruiting our uncles to help him make the doorways higher," reported Emma, referring to her six-and-a-half foot tall older brother. He was only called Little John because he was the youngest in the family with the name Jonathan Johnson.

"Couldn't you have used alchemy to do it for him?" Robin asked. "I know you're just as good at it as I am."

"I'm the only alchemist in the whole house! I can't do everyone's work for them."

Robin laughed. "Don't worry. While you're here, you won't have to do anyone's alchemy but your own."

"Sounds great!" said Emma, standing up again. "Let's go to your house right now!"

"But what about your luggage?"

"It's already with me."

"What?" Robin ran her cane over and around Emma, and found no luggage whatsoever. "What are you talking about?"

"Uncle Iggy said that no teenage girl could live for a week without taking anything with her. So I bet him 50 sens that I could do it," Emma explained. "All I've got are the clothes I have on, my alchemy, and my luck!"

If Robin could see, she would have stared at her cousin, but as it was, she merely shook her head and sighed. "That gambling will get you into trouble someday…"

"I've been gambling since the day I was born and it hasn't let me down yet," said Emma, putting an arm around Robin's shoulders. "Let's go!"

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"Today, you get to play with bombs," Robin's mother Anna was saying when the two girls entered the house. She was just starting her daily lesson with a teenage boy named Aidan Wallace. "The first step of normal alchemy is analysis, right?"

Aidan nodded.

"So, the first step of bomb-making is also analysis. You need to know how a bomb works before you can make one." Anna explained. She waved at Emma before continuing. "It's easy to set off a bomb, but harder to understand one."

"Who was that kid?" asked Emma as Robin led her upstairs.

"Aidan? Oh, he's Brand and Katherine Wallace's son. You probably know them—the Elemental Alchemist and the Lightning Alchemist. Mom's helping him advance his pyro-alchemy and combustion skills. He's also learning from both his parents and Fuhrer Mustang," said Robin. She tilted her head to one side. "I wouldn't step there if I were you. That board is booby-trapped."

Emma stepped carefully around the board that Robin touched lightly with her cane. "Wait, you knew where I was going to step? That's just creepy."

Robin smirked and opened the door to her room. "I can tell where you are by listening, and by feeling the vibrations in the floor. The trap under that board makes a little clicking sound, so I know where that is, too."

"Like I said, _creepy_," said Emma, flopping down on the bed. Robin's room was just as messy and cluttered as any teenager's, despite her being blind. The only things that were out of the ordinary were the various explosives she learned to make from her mother and the transmutation circles she had carved into her floor.

"I have to get around somehow," said Robin, sitting down beside Emma. "It's better than being helpless and having to have someone lead me wherever I need to go."

"_Pfft_, I've seen you pull your poor little blind girl act!"

"Yeah, too bad that only works on strangers. Otherwise, I'd have everyone wrapped around my finger," said Robin, sighing melodramatically. "Hey, you want me to show you around HQ? My dad's down there right now, and if you want, you can use the shooting range."

"Can I?" asked Emma eagerly, sitting up. She had recently begun learning how to shoot, and was enjoying it greatly. "Mom took my pistols away from me last month, and I don't want to get out of practice."

Robin and Emma raced back downstairs, only to run straight into Anna, who was carrying an extremely large and complicated-looking time bomb. "Careful!" said Anna with a smile. "You wouldn't want to set this thing off."

"Sorry, Aunty Anna," said Emma.

Robin's hands flickered gently over the bomb's surface. "Have fun defusing this one, Aidan, and don't mess up!" she said. Anna set the bomb on the table in front of the boy, who inspected it carefully.

"You've only set the timer for ten seconds, Mrs. O'Reilly," he pointed out.

"Oh, did I?" Anna pushed a button and it started to tick. "You'd better get started then."

As Aidan began frantically trying to defuse the massive bomb, Robin pulled Emma out the door.

"Don't worry," she said as they headed toward the military headquarters. "That bomb seems impressive, but all it does is make a lot of smoke."

"Hmm, sounds like Grandpa's cooking…"

Presently, the girls arrived at HQ. They went up to the front door, only to be bumped out of the way as the door was flung open.

"What the hell?!" exclaimed Emma. She watched in astonishment as the person who had opened the doors, a barefooted girl no older than herself, ran across the courtyard, pursued by a pack of armed soldiers. The girl ignored the bullets whizzing past her and took two patches of cloth out of her pocket as she ran.

Holding a piece of cloth in each hand, she turned around and zigzagged back to the soldiers, grabbing one of them. She quickly twisted his arms behind his back and used him as a human shield. There was a flash of alchemical light, and suddenly the girl's hands were clamped over his mouth. Another flash and she covered his eyes, before being grabbed by two other soldiers.

She fought back with more strength than Emma expected, managing to get the soldiers' arms tangled as she twisted around trying to escape. Suddenly, she used alchemy again and the soldiers lost their grip on her.

Before anyone else could react, the barefooted girl bolted away and vanished into the city.

Emma turned to ask her cousin what the hell had just happened, but Robin was already hurrying towards the cluster of soldiers that remained in the courtyard. Emma ran and joined her. When she saw the three soldiers that the girl had made contact with, she felt sick.

The first man was unable to open his eyes or mouth, his skin having been fused shut over them. When his comrades turned him on his side to see his hands, they saw that his fingers were melted together, binding his hands more effectively than any chain. Though his mouth was gone, he could still manage a muffled scream.

The other two were staring at themselves in terrified shock. For where their arms had touched—for a mere instant!—they had become merged, joined to each other at the arm.

As the injured soldiers were taken to the infirmary, Emma explained to Robin what she had seen. "Who was that girl?" she demanded.

"It was her again…" said Robin softly.

"**Who?"**

"The Dual Spirit."

Emma was getting impatient. "Which means _what_, exactly?"

"We don't know," said Robin, shaking her head. "That's what she calls herself. The military has been trying to keep it quiet, but she turned up about a month ago. She's managed to break into HQ at least five times already, and she attacks any member of the military she sees. She even knows some officers, and alchemists, by name, but we don't know anything about her."

"That thing she did--her alchemy--what was that?"

"As far as we can tell, it's the same sort of anatomical fusion used to create chimeras, except the Dual Spirit only combines parts of her victims' bodies."

"So she's a teenage terrorist who knows how to use human transmutation to her own advantage?" Emma sighed and leaned against Robin. "Looks like I picked a bad time to come for a visit."

"Oh, don't say that. It's as good a time as any; we just have to be more careful than usual, that's all," said Robin. "C'mon, let's go inside and see if we can find my dad."

After a few steps toward the building again, Robin added, "Um, I think there's something stuck to your boot, Emma. A piece of paper, maybe?"

Picking up the paper, Emma scanned it quickly. "It's the cover for a report, something about the Golden Touch Alchemist, Peter Derran…why does that name sound familiar?"

"He was our parents' cousin, on Grandma's side. He died six years ago in an alchemy accident. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but we believe that his daughter Sophie, who was very sick, had died and he was trying to bring her back to life."

"Oh, yeah! I remember that. Sophie was our age, wasn't she?"

Robin nodded. "This report must be what Dual Spirit broke in to steal today."

"Hang on a sec," said Emma. "Peter Derran died in an accident involving human transmutation, and six years later, Dual Spirit shows up, and she uses human transmutation as an attack. Not only that, but she stole the file about Peter."

"Maybe she's trying to find out more about her style of alchemy," Robin suggested.

"_And_ Dual Spirit just so happens to be about the same age that Sophie would have been if she had survived. Coincidence? I think not!"

"Are you trying to say that Sophie is Dual Spirit? That's impossible! Sophie's body was found right next to her father's. I can take you to the cemetery where they're both buried."

"I'm telling you, Robin, there has to be a connection!" said Emma. "Can we at least try to find out a little more about this case?"

"Well, the military could use any help they can get…"

"Great! Let's go find your dad."

Without another word, Emma grabbed Robin and marched her into HQ.

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_Tolly: There you go, first chapter!_


	2. Prayer

_Tolly: Hm, let's see…Anyone related to Anna is mine (this includes Johnsons, O'Reillys, and Derrans), and the Dual Spirit is my own creation as well. Any other names that you do not recognize from FMA belong to Swordsman of Fire, or Rhain, or possibly the Thin-air Alchemist._

_I do not own Full Metal Alchemist. Damn._

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"Sorry, girls, but every file about Peter and Sophie has either been stolen, or is being searched for leads," said Robin's father, Leon. "This isn't the first time Dual Spirit has shown interest in the Golden Touch Alchemist. We know by now that there's a connection, and we have half the military trying to figure it out."

"What about his research notes?" asked Emma. "Are those being used too?"

"I'm afraid so."

Robin tapped her fingers impatiently on her cane. "Isn't there something we can do?"

"You can tell your mother to come to HQ," said Leon. "The Fuhrer wants to know if she remembers anything Peter may have told her before the accident."

"It's not like we were really close to him, though," said Robin. "He and Mom were always working in different branches of the military, and we hardly ever visited him."

"I know, but Mustang is under the impression that there's a family secret we're not telling him." Laughing, Leon added, "He also seems to think that my Anna would actually tell him even if there was."

Robin smirked. "Silly Fuhrer."

"How about human transmutation? And chimeras? That's what Dual Spirit specializes in, right?" asked Emma, determined to find out more. "Is there any way we can research that?"

"Apart from the ones in the State Library, there aren't very many books about human transmutations…as for chimeras, there were a few records about the Sewing Life Alchemist and Lab 5, but Dual Spirit stole those as well."

"Is there anything useful that she _hasn't_ stolen?" said Emma, rolling her eyes.

"Our lives, for one." Leon said sternly. "Dual Spirit is young, but extremely dangerous. She knows all about human anatomy, and what she can do to it. Those soldiers she fused today? It was no accident that their muscles remained untouched while their skin was fused. An amateur transmutation would have been much messier, and harder to fix. As it is, they're in surgery right now, getting separated. She could have hurt them a lot worse if she felt like it."

"So she doesn't want to kill people?" asked Robin.

"It would seem so. We're not sure why that is, but we're damn lucky for it."

"I'll tell you why: Nobody in our family ever kills!" cried Emma. "I'd bet my right arm that Dual Spirit's aversion to killing has something to do with Sophie Derran."

"Careful what you bet," said Leon. "You might actually lose it. You girls should head back to the house. And be careful, alright?"

"We will, Dad. Don't worry."

As they left the office, Emma grumbled, "I never lose. And I know I'm right about this."

"I agree with you there," said Robin quietly.

"You do?"

Robin nodded, and turned her face toward Emma, although her clouded green eyes remained downcast. "We'll find the connection. But for now, let's let the grown-ups think we're good little girls."

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Upon arriving at the house, the girls found a very sooty Aidan finishing his lesson. Sniffing the smoke-filled air, Robin asked him how many times he had failed to defuse the bomb.

"Eleven," he said, coughing. "And a couple times, Teacher turned it into an actual bomb."

"To mix it up a bit," said Anna, her own face as soot-streaked as her student's.

"So that explains the damage…" Emma muttered.

"Besides," Anna continued. "You managed it the twelfth time. I think you're improving."

"Really?" asked Aidan hopefully.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and two children came inside. The older one, a thirteen-year-old girl, took one look at the soot and laughed. "Looks like you had fun today!" she said.

"Shut up, Alyssa," said Aidan.

"Emma, may I present Alyssa and Jacob Wallace, Aidan's little brother and sister," said Robin. "You two, this is my cousin Emma. She's staying for the week."

"Are you here to bring Aidan home?" asked Anna.

Jacob, who was seven, nodded. "Mama said he'd probably get lost."

"That's true, he might," said Anna, smirking at her student. "Hey, Jacob! I've been working on something and I want you to tell me what you think of it."

Pulling a white glove out of her pocket, Anna slipped it onto her left hand, then pressed her other hand over it. The transmutation circle on her right wrist flashed, but nothing seemed to happen. Winking at her young audience, Anna snapped her gloved fingers.

Multi-colored sparks burst out all over the glove, and it hissed and snapped like a child's holiday sparkler. Within a minute the sparks went out, leaving a blackened and slightly smoking glove. Anna whisked it off and bowed.

"That was awesome!" cried Jacob, grinning at the pyrotechnic display.

"Mom?" asked Robin suspiciously, after Alyssa told her the details she couldn't hear or smell. "Is that one of the Fuhrer's gloves, by any chance?"

"Well, it _was_," said Anna, grinning. "I think he'll appreciate the changes I made, don't you?"

Robin laughed. "Of course he will! You can find out when you talk to him. Dad said Mustang wants to talk to you about Peter Derran."

"What?" Anna asked with a frown. "Why?"

"Because the Dual Spirit stole some more files today."

"Another attack?" Anna groaned. "Robin and Emma, I want you to escort Aidan, Alyssa, and Jacob back to their house, alright?"

The girls nodded.

"And Aidan, you take some of my boomcoins," she said, handing him a few of her signature coin-like explosives. "You're the one who knows how to use them."

"I know how to use them, too," said Robin.

"Yeah, but you can't aim when you throw them," Aidan pointed out. In response, Robin smacked him in the back of the knee with her cane.

Anna pretended not to notice this. "Go on, before it gets dark. I don't want to face your mother's wrath if you're late getting home."

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After getting the Wallaces safely home (mostly safe anyway; Aidan ran into a street lamp), Robin and Emma headed back to the house as the sun began to set.

As they passed an alleyway, Robin paused. "Do you hear that?" she whispered.

"Hear what?"

Putting a finger to her lips for silence, Robin crept down the alley, towards a closed door. She and Emma pressed their ears to it and listened closely, and heard a teenage girl's voice speaking.

"…and understand that our alchemy is not Tanya's doing, but mine alone. I know that alchemy is a sin against you, and I ask that she not be punished for what I do."

Now another girl's voice spoke.

"I ask that Sophie not be punished for my actions. I am the one who steals, and it was my idea to attack the soldiers. We know that our deeds are wrong, and someday we shall seek to mend them. Until that day, forgive us both. Please watch over us, and our mothers and fathers who passed before us into your care. In your name, Ishballah, I pray. Amen."

There was the soft sound of candles being blown out, and Robin and Emma quickly backed into the shadows of the alley. The door opened. A familiar barefooted girl came out, looked toward the street, and closed the door behind her. Taking off at a run, she left the alley.

Robin and Emma waited silently for a long while, but no one else opened the door, and the Dual Spirit did not return.

"Maybe the other girl left another way," whispered Emma at last.

Robin shook her head. "I would have heard it if she had. She's not still in there, either."

"Did you hear? _Sophie_. Whoever said it made it sound like she was still alive!"

"But that's impossible…" said Robin absently, deep in thought. Meanwhile, Emma kept talking.

"And what about that other name? Tanya. Do you think that's Dual Spirit's real name? No, that can't be right, because whoever it was said that Tanya didn't do alchemy," She punched the wall in frustration. "If only we could find out more!"

"Emma, something is seriously wrong here. We heard two voices, but there was only one person in that room: Dual Spirit," said Robin softly, squeezing her cousin's arm. "I don't think she's human."


	3. I won't tell if you don't!

_Tolly: I must stop procrastinating and finish this bloody story… I must stop procrastinating and finish this bloody story… I must stop procrastinating and finish this bloody story…_

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As Robin lay in bed, listening to Emma's faint snores, she ran through the day's events in her head. One of Dual Spirit's voices had sounded almost _exactly_ the way she remembered Sophie. The only difference was that this voice sounded older. And the other voice was very different from what Sophie's had been, and apparently, was that of an Ishbalan girl. So what was Dual Spirit? Was she really two spirits, like her name suggested, sharing the same body? But_ how_?

Presently, Robin heard her father's uneven steps on the street outside, accompanied by the steady footsteps of her mother. She heard them come inside, heard her father's sigh when he saw the mess made by Anna and her student, and then heard them both coming upstairs for bed.

"Hey, Mom?" she called, softly so she wouldn't wake Emma.

"What?" came her mother's reply, even softer. "I thought you were asleep."

"I was just thinking. You saw the bodies of Sophie and Peter, right?"

Her mother winced audibly. "Yeah, I did."

"Was Sophie whole? I mean, did she still look like a human?"

"…Nope." Anna closed the bedroom door, ending the conversation, and Robin fell asleep, still trying to figure out what Dual Spirit was.

Had she stayed awake any longer, she would have heard the soft padding of bare feet on the street outside her house.

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The next morning, when Robin woke up, Emma was gone.

On her pillow was a pair of dice. Robin groaned when she picked them up. "That stupid addict…" she muttered, and hurried to get dressed.

"Where's the nearest place you can go to gamble?" she asked as she came down the stairs.

"Zeke's," her mother answered without hesitation. "Six blocks east of HQ."

"Wait, you've memorized where the gambling pubs are?" asked Leon. Anna flicked his forehead.

"No. Blackpowder Rule #102: Not allowed to bet anyone's soul in any form of gambling. Zeke's was where Roy caught me at it," she explained. "Anyway, why are you asking, Robin? The last thing we need is to take Emma gambling."

Robin presented the dice. "She's already gone."

"Ah, dammit," Anna sighed. "Well, go on and get her then. If she's not there, come find me at HQ and we'll send out a platoon or something."

"What are you doing at HQ?"

"Working on a project with General Armstrong. It's a type of projectile attack. It was Roy's idea," said Anna. "I think the Artillery Alchemist will be helping, too. That one's a little too trigger-happy for my tastes."

"So says the woman who blows open a door if it doesn't open on the first try…" muttered Leon.

"Shut it."

Robin smirked and left the house. She'd had her bedroom door blown open on multiple occasions, not that explosions bothered her at all. Big booms were the sound of her childhood, and she was the only person she knew who was capable of sleeping through a large-scale bomb, except perhaps her parents.

She paused outside her house, reviewing her mental map of Central City. She _could_ go to HQ and then walk six blocks east, or she could go four blocks east now and then three north and arrive in the same place with less walking. She settled on the latter option.

Robin could tell where streets began and blocks ended by the feeling of houses or emptiness before her. There were certain smells associated with different streets, and she was also very good at memorization. With as much ease as a person with sight, Robin soon arrived at Zeke's pub.

The moment she stepped in the door, she scowled. How could so many people be so noisy so early in the morning? With all the chatter, there was no way even she could pick out Emma's voice, and no way Emma could hear her calling. Nor was she intent on attempting to sniff out Emma's particular scent of racing horses and iron, so sense of touch it was. She stood in a vacant space near the door and slipped off her shoes, focusing on the sensitive soles of her feet.

Vibrations in the floor from the stomping of heavy adults gave her a clear "image" of where things were in the pub. Five men already drinking at the bar…a fat man and a slender woman in the corner…three teenage-sized boys and a girl with heavy boots at a table in the back…Robin put her shoes back on and made her way to that table.

"Well?" she demanded when she got there.

Emma jumped in her seat, nearly dropping her cards. "What the—how did you find me?"

"This is my city, that's how. Now, come on, we've got work to do."

"Aw, but we're right in the middle of a hand!"

"Too bad!" Robin grabbed Emma's arm and hissed in her ear. "We're supposed to be finding out more about Dual Spirit, remember?"

"Hey, I know you!" said one of the boys. "You're the Blackpowder Alchemist's daughter!"

One of his buddies laughed. "My old man says she'll end up just like that guy Kimblee did—blown to bits."

Emma saw Robin's hands clench tightly around her cane. "Uhh, okay, let's get going before you do something you'll regret, Robin."

"No, I want them to apologize first," said Robin coldly.

The first boy snorted derisively. "What if we don't? You gonna make us?"

Robin nodded.

"You and what army, blind girl?"

Emma reached for her pistols before remembering that they had been taken away from her. As her hand went for the deck of transmutation cards in her jacket pocket, Robin shook her head.

"That won't be necessary, Emma. I'll handle these idiots," she said smoothly, all traces of anger wiped from her face. "Let's take it outside, stupid boy."

"Oooh!" sneered his friends, but all three followed the girls out onto the street.

"Hold this," said Robin, handing her cane to Emma. She took a pair of elbow length gloves out of her long skirt's pocket. "This is your last chance to run away, boys."

They just laughed some more, obviously not realizing that the swirling designs on Robin's gloves were transmutation circles. But when she clapped her hands together to activate them, the three boys stopped laughing.

"You didn't tell us Blackpowder's daughter was an alchemist, too!" one of them muttered.

The first boy shushed him. "Um, we're sorry?"

"Too late!" snapped Robin. The transmutation circles glowing, she spun her arms in rapid circles, attracting the ions in the air and pulling them into a cyclone of wind around her fists.

"They're getting away," Emma informed her.

"Then stop them," said Robin, absorbed in the task of building the cyclones.

"Can do, cuz." Emma pulled two cards out of her pocket and pressed them to the ground. Lightning sparks of alchemy raced along the street, faster than the boys could run, and a stone wall sprang up before them, blocking their way completely.

Kicking off her shoes, Robin stopped spinning her arms, the miniature tornadoes now capable of maintaining their own velocity. She "saw" with her feet where her targets were and punched both arms toward them with all her strength. The tornados shot from her arms and sped toward the boys, knocking them into the air with hurricane-force wind.

Emma took down her stone barrier and watched them run away, rubbing their sore behinds where they had landed. She whistled appreciatively. "You've been practicing, I see."

"Thanks," Robin said, taking a deep breath and rubbing her arms; they were rubbed raw and sore where the gloves hadn't protected them from the wind. "Mom's going to have a fit if she finds out I got into a fight again."

"Again? This happens a lot? Looks like you got your share of Johnson pride."

Robin nodded. "You won't tell, will you?"

"I won't if you don't tell them I was gambling. Deal?"

"Deal!" said Robin, grinning. "Now, let's go get some information at HQ. We've still got Dual Spirit to worry about."

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_Tolly: Mwahahaha! A chapter done in (almost) a single sitting! I can so do this! Please review!_


	4. What is she?

The next three days found Robin and Emma in the State Library. Robin had managed to get permission from the Fuhrer himself for them to use the library. Seeing as the Blackpowder Alchemist had been on doctor's orders to avoid all explosions while she was pregnant with Robin, Fuhrer Mustang felt that he owed Robin a debt of gratitude for those nine bomb-free months.

Now Robin stood at an open window with her hands cupped around her ears, listening for signs of a Dual Spirit attack, while Emma read whatever files and reports she could find on chimeras and human transmutation.

Emma groaned and dropped her head onto the open book on the table. "Ugh, this is taking too long!"

"Nice to know I'm not the only one bored out of my mind…" Robin muttered.

"Hey, I'm the one doing all the work here! You could help, you know."

Robin turned away from the window and waved her hand in front of her sightless eyes.

"Yeah, I get it," sighed Emma. "You can't read. But you can study all these transmutation circles. You know the runes and symbols a whole lot better than I do."

Sitting down at the table next to her cousin, Robin held out her hands. "All right, I'll take a look."

"Very funny. Hang on." Emma took a playing card out of her pocket. It was from her own special deck, and every card had a transmutation circle on it. She placed the card briefly on each sheet of paper before handing the papers to Robin. "Here."

Robin ran her fingers over the sheets and smiled when she felt the now-raised lines of ink. "Thanks," she said.

Emma shrugged in response. "The first three are from Shou Tucker's experiments, then there's a few blood seal designs, and the last circle is the one they found Sophie's body in."

The two got back to work. Emma scanned the reports and research with a trained eye, getting up every now and then to find more, and Robin busied herself with memorizing the transmutation circles with her fingertips.

About a half-hour later, Robin cocked her head to one side, hearing something. "I'll be right back," she said, and left the library. Emma was so absorbed in going over some calculations that she didn't even look up until Robin came back, now accompanied by a man with longish blond hair tied back in a ponytail.

Emma blinked at him. "What do you want?" she asked rudely.

"This is Brigadier General Edward Elric, the Full Metal Alchemist," said Robin, tapping Emma on the head with her fist. "He's also the military's leading expert on human transmutation, so I figured he could give us a hand."

Ed looked over the research notes scattered across the table. "Do you two understand all of this?" he asked.

"Most of it," replied Emma. "But it's just bits and pieces. Dual Spirit stole a bunch, the military has other parts of it, and all we've got are the scraps left over."

"That's why we need you, Ed." Robin added. "I've got a few questions for you."

"Fire away."

"When you tried to bring your mother back to life, do you remember the exact design of the transmutation circle you used?"

"Yeah, but why do you ask? You know it didn't work."

"Right, we know that, but the symbols you used were basic for an attempt at human transmutation, weren't they?"

Emma jumped in, catching what Robin was saying. "The official report says that Peter Derran tried to bring his daughter back to life six years ago. If he really was attempting to bring a human to life, he should have used the same sort of runes in his array."

"Wait a minute, Peter Derran? What exactly are you studying here?" Ed demanded.

"We're testing a theory that might solve two mysteries at once," said Robin. She held up the paper with Peter's transmutation circle on it. "Now, how much of this circle matches the one you and your brother used?"

Ed examined the array and frowned. "None of it, actually. But that doesn't necessarily mean—"

Robin snatched the circle back and laid it next to one of the arrays used by Shou Tucker used to create chimeras. "And how much do these two match?"

With a finger, she traced a pattern on Peter's circle, and then the same one on Tucker's. She did it again and again, pointing out multiple similarities.

"Whoa…how did the military miss that?" Emma wondered. "How did _I_ miss that?"

"There are a lot of other symbols and patterns hiding the ones that match up," said Ed, staring at the two circles. "Almost like an optical illusion. If you just look at it as a whole, you can't see them."

"Which is why I could find them," said Robin. "I had to 'see' the designs bit by bit instead of all at once."

"So if Peter's circles match Tucker's…" Emma began.

"He wasn't trying to save his daughter's life," finished Ed through clenched teeth. "He was trying to turn her into a chimera, and failed."

"No, that's can't be it!" Quickly, Emma shuffled through the notes in front of her. Finally, she found what she was looking for. "It says here that Peter specialized in using alchemy as a way to heal people, and he presented his annual assessment just a few days before he died. Why would he suddenly want to create a chimera?"

"People like that don't need a reason!"

"Calm down, General," snapped Robin. "Besides, Sophie isn't dead."

"What?" Ed gaped at Robin. "But her body was right there inside the circle. I saw it for myself."

"And where was your brother's body while his soul was trapped in a suit of armor?" Robin countered. "What happens to the body doesn't necessarily happen to the soul. You're the one who taught me that."

"How can you be so sure that her soul lives?" asked Ed.

"I told you, it's a theory that so far is going good. I just need to know one more thing. Where exactly in the circle was Sophie's body?"

Ed placed his hand on the paper. "Right about here, I think."

Robin felt where his hand was in relation to the circle's design. "Off to one side? You're sure?"

"Yeah, I remember thinking that it was a little weird that it was off center like that, but I was more focused on the body itself."

Emma looked at the set-up as well and nodded. "Would you say that there was room left in that circle for, oh say, another little girl?"

"Umm…I think so. Yeah, definitely. But there wasn't another body. You two know something, don't you?"

"Should we tell him?" Emma asked.

Robin took a deep breath. "If we're correct, then Peter really did create a chimera that night. A chimera made up of only human bodies, and therefore resembling a human completely. A chimera that's still alive. You've heard of her. She calls herself the Dual Spirit."

Ed was silent for a while. "You're joking, right?"

"We heard Sophie's voice a few nights ago," Emma informed him, not meeting his eyes. "And it was Dual Spirit speaking. We didn't tell anyone because we wanted to make sure."

"I see…" Ed turned back to Robin. "You said that Dual Spirit is a human-only chimera. We know that she doesn't resemble Sophie, so who was the other body in that circle?"

"We heard Sophie…" Robin paused. "…or Dual Spirit, rather, mention someone else, and there was another voice who said Sophie's name. We think that the reason she calls herself Dual Spirit is because she's really two souls in one body. Sophie Derran, and an Ishbalan girl named Tanya."

"You realize that this whole thing is pretty far-fetched," said Ed, shaking his head. "There's not a whole lot to go on. And even if the military believes you, they'll just try harder to capture her to use as a study. If Dual Spirit is what you say she is, there's never been a case like this before."

"That's why we have to find her first," declared Emma. "Dual Spirit is related to us through Sophie, and since we know what she is, we could try to help her."

"Help her do what?" Ed asked. "Once fused, a chimera can't be separated unless you want to kill the creatures it's made up of. It has only one brain, and even if Dual Spirit has two distinct souls, her thoughts and memories are most likely all mixed together by now. She can't go back to being two people, especially after this long."

"Hmm, you're right," agreed Robin. "You've seen the way she fights, Emma. That's not just two people working together. It seems like a single mind controlling a single body."

Emma scowled. "But Dual Spirit is still Sophie and Tanya. Two human souls. You can't deny that. Besides, if there's never been a completely human chimera, we don't know exactly what's happened to her souls."

Robin swept her hands idly across the transmutation circle that evidently created Dual Spirit. Her fingers stopped on one of the symbols. "Hey, Ed, take a look at this."

"What now?" Ed groaned and looked where Robin was pointing. "Huh. That looks kind of familiar."

"Kind of like a blood seal?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, right where Sophie was lying…and here's another one where the empty space was, where Tanya must have been."

Emma peered over Ed's shoulder. "Doesn't Dual Spirit have a mark like that on her stomach? I caught a glimpse of something round and reddish when she fought those guards the other day."

"That's right," said Ed, thinking hard. "We've always thought it was just a tattoo of a transmutation circle. We never even thought of it being a blood seal."

"The military is genius," whispered Emma sarcastically to Robin. "Remind me never to join." Robin smirked.

Meanwhile, Ed was still deep in thought. "A human chimera…you two heard two distinct voices, right?"

"Yep!" said Robin. "Definitely two people. What are you thinking?"

"Real soul attachments are complicated, especially if it's meant to last, but what if Derran tried to attach a soul by fusing the body it belonged to?"

"Okay, you lost me," said Emma.

"Sophie was dying, so Derran probably didn't have a lot of time to research soul attachments, and in his field of study he wouldn't have known much about the subject. But he would have known about chimeras and how to make one…" Ed trailed off. "No, it would've been almost impossible, especially if he did it by pure chance."

"Chance, huh?" said Emma, raising an eyebrow. "I know a thing or two about chance, including the fact that luck runs in my family. You ever wonder _why_ Peter was named the Golden Touch Alchemist? He was really lucky, that's all."

"Shush," said Robin. To Ed, she added, "Go on."

"So what if he decided to try using his knowledge of fusion to attach his daughter's soul to this girl Tanya's body? If he was as lucky as Emma says he was, he might have managed to create something that was part soul attachment, part chimera. That would explain the transmutation circle he used _and_ the blood seal."

"So, there might be a chance to separate Dual Spirit?" asked Emma. "Soul attachments can be undone, right?"

Ed nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, but it's risky, trust me."

"Risk? Ha! I know how to handle risk, and this is a gamble I'm willing to make."

"Emma!" Robin snapped. "No gambling!"

"It was just a figure of speech!" said Emma defensively.

"If you two are really serious about wanting to try separating Dual Spirit, then you'll need a way to catch her first," Ed reminded them.

"And it's not just a matter of catching her and miraculously separating her," said Robin. "Both of her lives are at stake here. We need a plan."

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_Tolly: I leave you at a cliff-hanger-ish place. Why? Because I feel like it, and because this chapter is almost 2000 words long. That's why._


	5. Chimera

Emma and Robin decided that their first step should be finding out who Tanya was before the fusion, since Emma refused to believe that Peter had kidnapped a random girl to attach his daughter's soul to. Ed suggested that they go to the person who had received Peter's notes, a newly instated alchemist named Alim Voss.

"Can I help you?" he asked when he opened his apartment door. At first Emma was a little unsettled by the dark sunglasses he wore, but she got straight to the point.

"We want Peter Derran's notes," she demanded.

Robin sighed. "Honestly, don't you have any tact?" she muttered. To Alim, she said "We learned that his medical records were given to you, and we'd appreciate it if we could look through them, to answer a question of ours regarding the Dual Spirit."

"And why should I hand out military files to a couple of teenage girls?"

"We're on an errand from the Blackpowder Alchemist, Anna O'Reilly."

"Is that so?" said Alim, not sounding convinced.

"Yes, it's so!" snapped Emma. "I'm her niece, and this is her daughter. Can't you see the family resemblance, or do those sunglasses of yours make you completely blind? No offense, Robin," she added.

"None taken," said Robin calmly.

"I don't doubt your relations to Blackpowder, but she doesn't seem to be the kind of person who would be interested in medical records. What's the real reason you're here? You mentioned something about Dual Spirit."

"Just a moment," said Emma, pulling Robin aside. "Should we tell him?"

"Ed said he knows more about chimeras than anyone else in the military, and he's got Peter's notes. If anyone can help us, it's him." Robin answered.

"Fine, but I don't like him."

"You don't have to, you just have to play nice until we find out who Tanya was," said Robin. She smiled in Alim's direction. "We believe that Dual Spirit is really a chimera that Peter Derran created by accident while he was trying to save his daughter."

Robin could hear Alim's heart rate go up with excitement, but his voice betrayed no such feeling. "I see. Come in." He let the girls inside and led them to what was clearly his study.

"The Dual Spirit as a chimera?" he asked. "That would explain her strength, and why she knows so much about fusion. I'm studying the subject myself."

Emma scowled. "Sicko. Why the hell would you want to study something like that?"

"I doubt you would understand my reasons."

"Why you—"

"Emma!" Robin snapped. "We're here for answers."

"So," said Alim. "What answers do you expect to find in Peter's records? There are a few mentions of chimeras, but most of his work was in medicine. I've looked through them dozens of times, and there's nothing to suggest that he was creating chimeras."

"Before we start talking about chimeras, we were wondering about a name," said Emma. "An Ishbalan girl. Tanya. Ring any bells?"

Alim was silent for a moment, thinking. "Actually, yes. There are quite a few references to a girl by that name." He took a file off one of his shelves and flipped through it, handing a few sheets of paper to Emma. "Here, Tanya Ayrel."

Emma skimmed through the papers. "Treated for a cold…a broken finger…a few minor scrapes…" she read aloud. "The first record is when she was seven—the same age as Sophie at the time—and it continues until Peter's death, when she was nine years old."

"So she was a regular patient of his?" asked Robin.

"Yeah, but…there's no mention of payment. " Emma looked to Alim. "Anything about her family?"

Alim shook his head. "It appears she was an orphan that he treated out of charity. You know something more, don't you?"

"Tanya has a direct connection to the Dual Spirit," said Robin. "In fact, they are practically the same person. We overheard Dual Spirit referring to herself as Tanya…and as Sophie. She's a chimera made up of two human girls."

"Not just that, but we think there was a soul attachment involved as well. Edward Elric agrees with us," Emma told him. "Both Tanya's and Sophie's souls are intact. They spoke separately when we heard them."

"Exactly," said Robin. "You know a lot about chimeras. What could have happened?"

"Well, first off, when a chimera is created from two or more animals, it actually creates a whole new creature that behaves differently than any of its former species. Even when a human being is combined with an animal, it's the same thing; a new creature that isn't quite one thing or the other, but a new species entirely." Alim explained. "In this case, however, it isn't a matter of a new species. Dual Spirit would still be completely human. From what I've seen of her, she has only one brain, and therefore one mind."

"So…what?" asked Emma.

"I'm getting there. Am I correct in assuming that you girls heard two separate voices, if you believe that she is both Sophie and Tanya?"

Robin nodded.

"Hmm…one body, one mind…two souls…her unique situation could simply be manifesting itself as a form of multiple personality disorder," said Alim. "Not as an actual psychological disorder, of course, but as two truly different personalities locked into the same mind."

"But it wasn't the same voice!" Robin protested. "I would know if it was the same voice talking in a different way. That's what happens with multiple personality disorder, right? "

"Yes, but if Dual Spirit is a chimera, then it's possible that her vocal cords are set up differently than a normal human, allowing her to use her two distinct voices."

"What about the soul attachment?" Emma wondered.

"A human soul is nearly impossible to explain with science," said Alim, sounding disappointed that this was so. "In the natural course of things, Peter Derran's chimera should have rejected one of its souls to balance itself, just as a suit of armor should have rejected the soul of Alphonse Elric twenty years ago. However, with a soul attachment, this natural rejection can be overcome. I've seen the mark on Dual Spirit's stomach. If it's a blood seal, then breaking it would undoubtedly release one of her souls."

Robin was the one to break the silence following this statement. "But, which soul would it release?"

Alim had no answer for that.

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"There's no safe way of separating her, so now what do we do?" asked Robin as she and Emma headed back to the house. "Trying to split a chimera is impossible, and even if we could get close enough to break the soul attachment, either Sophie or Tanya would be killed."

"I know, I know…" Emma muttered, kicking at a loose stone. "_And_ I have to go back home the day after tomorrow. Ugh, I hate being rushed!"

Robin was about to agree when she suddenly stopped cold, turned around, and ran back the way they came.

"What the—what are you doing?" cried Emma, running after her.

"I hear Dad, he's in trouble!"

As they got closer, Emma could hear her uncle calling for help and they finally turned a corner to find Leon…stuck to a wall by his right foot, cursing loudly as he tried vainly to tug his foot free.

"Dad, what happened?" asked Robin anxiously. Her hands were flying, trying to 'see' if her father was injured. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Leon muttered. "All she got was my foot."

"She? You don't mean…"

"Yep. The Dual Spirit. Fuhrer Mustang decided that with all the booby traps and explosives lying around, our house might actually be safer than HQ when it comes to guarding important files, so I was bringing them over." He held up his empty hands. "She found me and took them. When I tried to fight back, she fused my iron foot into the wall."

"That looks _really_ uncomfortable," commented Emma, referring to Leon's position. The iron that stood in place of his missing right foot was merged with the stone wall at waist level.

"It is, and the transmutation circle I usually use to fix it is buried in the wall as well. Useless."

"Alright, I'll fix it," said Robin, smiling. She put on her gloves and put both hands on the wall. There was a flash of light and Leon stumbled backward, freed. He inspected the peg and sighed.

"Just as I thought…I'll have to get your mother to fix the circle." Leon knew a lot about the science of alchemy, but his actual skill was very limited, which was almost the opposite of his wife. She had a lot of talent, but couldn't make heads or tails of the equations involved; she just did it without thinking.

"Can you walk with it like that, Dad?" asked Robin.

"What do you think I am, some kind of cripple? Of course I can," he said, taking a few limping steps. "But I wouldn't say no to a little help."

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If Anna was surprised when Leon walked in, supported by Robin and Emma, she didn't show it. "What happened?" she asked, not sounded especially concerned.

"Is that the kind of welcome you give your loving husband when he comes hobbling home with a busted foot?" asked Leon sadly. "I was ambushed--there must have been fifty of them, Anna--they cornered me--I got most of them but…"

"Shut up and let me see your foot, 'loving husband.'"

As Anna repaired the twisted piece of iron attached to Leon's right leg, Robin frowned, went over to the basement door, and listened carefully. She opened it and Aidan came running out, shivering. "C-c-cold evil, f-f-fire g-good," he gasped.

"Mom…?" Robin asked.

"Oh, he called me an old lady, so I locked him in the basement," explained Anna nonchalantly.

"All I said was that she had a few gr--" Aidan began, but Robin clamped a hand over his mouth to keep him from saying something he'd probably regret.

"Forty-one isn't that old, Anna," said Leon. "And everyone has to get older eventually."

"Besides, I've never seen a single gray hair on you, Mom!" Robin added.

"Thanks, Robin…" Anna paused and glared at her daughter, who started laughing. "That is _not_ funny."

She finished transmuting Leon's foot. "There, good as new."

"You're so helpful, Anna," said Leon sweetly, leaning in for a kiss. Anna put her hand over his mouth.

"Nuh-uh. Not until you tell me what really happened to your foot. That wasn't battle damage," she said sternly. She looked over at Emma. "By the way, I got a call from your father today."

Emma paled. "Um, about what, exactly?"

"Something about you and a jockey who doesn't race for your mother's family," said Anna with a shrug. "Little John is coming on the morning train to bring you home."

"Wait, the morning train? As in, tomorrow?" asked Robin.

"Yep."

The two girls were thinking the same thing: _That's not enough time to take care of Dual Spirit!_


	6. Equivalent Exchange

_Two teenage girls in one night versus the entire State military for a month, _ thought Emma glumly. _Those are some pretty bad odds…_

"Don't turn pessimist on me now," said Robin. She was using her technique of ionizing air molecules to make a ball hover above her gloved palm. Both girls were up in Robin's room trying to determine a plan of action.

"What, are you psychic now?"

"Your body behaves differently for different emotions, Emma," Robin explained. "That's how I can read someone's emotions, instead of looking at their face. It's actually more accurate than hearing a person speak. People lie, but science doesn't."

Emma smirked. "Science says there are stars in the sky," she commented wickedly.

Robin's concentration broke and the ball fell to the floor and rolled under the bed. She scowled in Emma's direction. "People say that, but until it's proven to me, I say you're all hallucinating. Did you have to bring up that subject?"

"Sorry, cuz," said Emma. "I just hate getting stuck like this."

"Understandable," said Robin. "But be patient. You'd be surprised what can come along when you least expect it."

"Ugh, I hate waiting, too…" Emma groaned.

Suddenly, they heard more voices downstairs. Robin stayed where she was while Emma crept into the hallway to listen.

"…Roy's getting too worked up about this whole Dual Spirit thing," Anna was saying.

"It's gotta be bad for his health," said another female voice.

"That's Rosalie, the Riptide Alchemist and Mom's partner-in-crime," Robin whispered.

"But he wants us at HQ five minutes ago," continued Rosalie. "He said he's got a lead on Dual Spirit's whereabouts."

"So he's calling out the cavalry?" asked Leon.

"Oh, I wouldn't call us the cavalry…" answered Anna. The voices faded as the adults left the house.

"And that's our cue!" Emma declared, hurrying downstairs.

Robin took a minute to grab a few items from her shelves before following. "Wait up!" she called as the two of them ran out the front door.

Anna spun around. "And where do you think you're going?" she demanded.

"We're going to HQ with you, of course," said Robin innocently.

"May I ask why?"

"Because we know something about the Dual Spirit that the Fuhrer doesn't," Emma responded. "Very important information that could change the whole situation."

"And we need to tell him in person because there's too much to pass on in a message." Robin added.

Anna exchanged a look with Leon, who nodded. "Alright. But don't take it personally if the almighty Mustang won't listen to you."

"He's cranky today," Rosalie put in.

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Ten minutes later, Robin and Emma were sitting outside of the conference room. Their important information, as it turned out, was just as easily told by Edward Elric and Alim Voss, who held priority over the two teenage girls.

"Stupid Biological Alchemist…" Emma muttered.

"Shush!" Robin hissed. "I'm trying to listen!" But even her ears couldn't hear anything being said within the soundproofed room. Finally she gave up. "This situation couldn't get any worse."

"You think?" said Emma sarcastically.

"Wait…" Robin frowned. "Someone's coming up the stairs…barefooted."

Emma stared at her, then grabbed her arm and pulled her down the hall to the stairway. Sure enough, the Dual Spirit was racing up the stairs. The chimera barely glanced at the cousins before hurrying up the next flight.

Peering down the stairs, Emma caught a glimpse of a few guards, muted and blinded by Dual Spirit's efficient methods. She gulped and turned to Robin. "What do we do?"

"We follow her." Robin said without hesitation. "We can help her, remember?"

Emma stuck her hands into her jacket pockets, pulled out two transmutation cards and held them at the ready. "Let's go."

They bolted up the stairs after Dual Spirit.

"One question, Robin," panted Emma as they ran. Dual Spirit was still ahead of them, and still moving upwards. "How many floors are there in HQ?"

"Um, there should be only two more above us," Robin answered.

"Oh, okay then…no problem…" Emma sounded nonchalant, but Robin could sense her cousin's body tense up. _What's she afraid of? _Robin wondered, but didn't ask.

Finally, the two girls arrived at the door to the roof, just as it was closing behind Dual Spirit. Robin flung it open and rushed outside. Emma hung back for a second, took a deep breath, and followed.

There was no sign of Dual Spirit.

"Where could she have gone?" Robin muttered, listening closely. She heard something behind her and spun around, grabbing Emma's arm to pull her closer. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Just to make sure we aren't interrupted…" replied the Dual Spirit in Tanya's voice, fusing the doorway shut with her cloth circles. "So you two are the ones who've been snooping around in our past."

"How did you…?" Emma began.

"How did we know what you were doing?" Now she was speaking as Sophie. "We've learned a lot in our years of hiding. How to spy without being seen or heard, for instance."

"Then you know we want to help you," said Robin, keeping her voice steady. Something about Dual Spirit didn't feel right.

"Yes. About that…Don't you want to know _why_ we're like this before you draw your final conclusion?" Dual Spirit took a step closer, and in the light of the setting sun, Emma could see that her eyes were purple—not quite Sophie's blue, not quite Tanya's red. "My father died for us to live. For us _both_ to live, despite Tanya's wishes."

"What do you mean?" asked Emma.

Dual Spirit frowned and her eyes unfocused, as though deep in thought. When she spoke again, it was as Tanya. "I was orphaned by the remnants of a war that happened long before I was born. I was condemned to live on the streets, alone. Then I met Sophie. She and her father took me in…gave me a home. At first I refused to accept Peter's alchemy, but I eventually saw how it could be used to help people, and realized that it wasn't as much of a sin as I had been taught. But Sophie was so sick that neither alchemy or prayers had any effect. I had to do _something_—You didn't have to do _anything!_" she cried suddenly, switching to Sophie's voice. "It was stupid, Tanya! Stupid!"

Emma came closer to her. "Tell us what happened. We want to know what Peter did, so we can clear his name."

Dual Spirit shook her head. "Why should we tell you? Because the secret has to exist someplace besides us…" She answered herself, switching between her two voices so quickly that it was getting harder to tell who was who. "The idea was to use the principal of equivalent exchange in the worst way. A life for a life. Tanya's for Sophie's."

"So, Peter wasn't supposed to create a…a chimera?" said Robin quietly.

"No…not at all," said Sophie/Dual Spirit. "I was going to die that very night. I was only nine, and so was Tanya…I was dreaming for the last few hours…" Tanya took over. "I told Mr. Derran my idea to put her soul into my body…but he didn't listen to me. I was willing to die so that Sophie could live, but he died for us both instead! He orphaned us again!"

Robin heard Dual Spirit's voices catch in her throat. "That's not what he wanted. I'm sure of it," she said soothingly. "He loved you both."

Dual Spirit glared at the blind girl. "What the hell do you know? Either of you! Love…was that the look that I got when people came to visit my sick bed? They were healthy, just like Tanya, but all they did was cry before I was even dead! Was that why people passed me by when I was little, before I found Sophie? Any one of them could have given me a home…you know nothing of love or hate."

Robin's ears rang with that last word. _Something's not right…_ she thought again.

Emma wasn't so cautious. She reached out and touched Dual Spirit's arm, wanting to comfort her. In a flash, Dual Spirit had her by the wrist and was pulling her toward the edge of the roof with more strength than she should have had.

"There's no way to help us, so don't bother trying!" she snapped. "And now you know too much about us…"

Emma took one look at the roof's edge and whimpered, her face pale as a ghost. There was one thing she was afraid of, above all else: heights.

Dual Spirit saw her expression and laughed. "We all have to face our fears sometime, _cousin!_" She now held Emma out over the edge by one arm.

"NO!" yelled Robin, running to help Emma. Dual Spirit shoved her away with her free arm, catching her off-guard and sending her sprawling.

"I'll take care of you next!" said Dual Spirit, turning her attention back to the terrified young gambler.

Without another thought, Robin scrambled to her feet, pulling a small knife from her pocket as she did so. She hadn't thought she'd actually need it, but had taken it off her shelf just in case. "Let her go!" she cried, and stabbed randomly.

She heard Dual Spirit gasp in pain, and a split second later, heard Emma scream as she fell into the empty air, released from Dual Spirit's grip. Acting on instinct, Robin clapped her gloved hands and held them out before her. Instantly, the molecules in the air were reconstructed into ions via alchemy, and were pulled back up past her hands, creating wind. The gust of wind continued to build, stronger and stronger, but was it strong enough? Above the rush of the wind, Robin could still hear Emma's screams, fading…then coming closer, moving upwards with the wind.

Emma practically flew back over the edge of the roof and landed roughly, but safely, a good distance away from the edge. "What the hell…?" she said, her voice shaking.

Robin stumbled away from the edge, wincing from the pain in her hands. Most of the gloves had been ripped away, leaving her skin exposed to the tornado-force wind, and her hands were bleeding now.

Dual Spirit pulled the knife from her stomach, no longer heeding the physical pain. "Tanya?" she cried. "Tanya!"

She fell to her knees. "She's gone…no. No!" Using the very knife that had broken her blood seal, Sophie quickly etched a crude transmutation circle into the roof's surface, using symbols she remembered from the circle that had turned her and her best friend into a chimera. "I'll save you, just like you saved me," she whispered, and activated the circle.

Neither Robin nor Emma realized what she was doing before it was too late, and once they did, neither dared go close enough to try and stop her.

The rebound was quick, taking Sophie into the Gate in a single flash of light. Emma shielded her eyes from the harsh light, while Robin clamped her hands over her ears to shut out the screams.

As the alchemical light faded, Emma heard the last sound she would have expected…a small child crying. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. "Um, Robin?"

Robin didn't move, not daring to believe her own ears. "Tell me what you see."

"Dual Spirit's gone," said Emma softly, slowing getting to her feet. "But…" She stopped, amazed.

In the midst of the smoke and sparks of alchemy stood a young girl, no more than six years old. She was crying, but didn't seem to be hurt at all. Behind her, barely visible in the fading light, was something else, not human and not moving.

Emma took off her jacket and carefully approached the child. "Are you alright?" she asked gently, holding out her arms.

The girl immediately ran to her and started sobbing into her shoulder. Emma was startled, but quickly wrapped her jacket around the girl. She picked her up and took her away from the _thing_ that lay in a heap on the other side of the transmutation circle.

"Who is she?" wondered Robin.

Upon hearing Robin's voice, the child looked at her and held Emma tightly, sobbing louder as if afraid of what she saw.

"I don't know," said Emma. "But she doesn't seem to like you, Robin."

"I can tell," Robin replied. She turned her head towards the transmutation circle, not liking the sounds she heard coming from that direction. "Let's get out of here, alright? Maybe someone can help us find out what happened."

"Sounds good," said Emma, shifting the child's weight to one arm, so she could use a transmutation card to open the fused doorway. "You first."

Robin hurried down the stairs, and after taking one last look at the thing remaining on the roof, Emma followed her, carrying the unknown girl.

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_Tolly: Holy hell, that was intense to write. After this, there's going to be one more chapter. Short, I know, but that's alright, innit? _


	7. Introducing Sonya

_Tolly: Alright! Last chapter!_

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Robin arrived at the doors to the conference room long before Emma and the little girl, and because her hands were injured, kicked the door as hard as she could. Within seconds, her father poked his head out. "What…" he began, but trailed off when he saw her bleeding hands. Immediately, he opened the door wider to let her in. "What happened, Robin? Where's Emma?"

"She's coming," said Robin. She heard Mustang clear his throat. "I'm really sorry to interrupt, but there's something you have to see."

At that moment, Emma entered, carrying the child. "You don't have to worry about the Dual Spirit any more, Fuhrer. You can be sure of that." she said smugly.

"Would one of you explain what's going on?" Mustang demanded.

Emma carefully pulled the girl's arms from around her neck and set her down, keeping a hand on the girl's shoulder to reassure her. "The Dual Spirit no longer exists, sir. You know how she was made up of those two girls? Well, Robin broke her blood seal--"

"On accident," said Robin quietly, sitting down beside her mother.

"—and that released one of Dual Spirit's souls, the girl named Tanya. So then Sophie tried to bring Tanya back to life, but there was a massive rebound. She destroyed herself completely. All that was left was this little girl and a…" Here Emma wrinkled her nose in disgust. "…a pile of parts. We left it on the roof. I think it's alive."

Brand Wallace and both of the Elric brothers jumped up and left the room, heading to investigate the creature remaining on the roof. Alim got up from his seat and inspected Robin's hands. Without a word, he removed the shreds of her gloves and used the transmutation circles on his own hands to heal her before moving on to look at the child.

The little girl edged closer to Emma, frightened by his dark sunglasses at first, but Emma quickly told her it was alright.

"So, you're saying that this girl is Dual Spirit?" asked Mustang.

"All that's left of her," said Robin. "We don't know exactly what happened. If you follow the rules of equivalency, the loss of one body and two souls shouldn't have produced two bodies, right?"

"No, but…" put in Anna, thinking. "There's never been a case like this before, remember? What I gathered from our conversation earlier was that Dual Spirit shouldn't have been created in the first place. Maybe this is the reaction for that action."

"Whatever the case," said Mustang. "She should be taken into military custody. If she's the Dual Spirit, she's got a lot to answer for."

"But she's not the Dual Spirit!" Emma protested. "Blaming her for Dual Spirit's crimes would be like…like blaming Robin for something Aunt Anna did!"

Anna nodded in agreement, but Mustang wasn't convinced.

Emma rolled her eyes and knelt down to be at the girl's eye level. "Hey there," she said gently. "What's your name?"

The girl looked at her blankly. "Name?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm Emma. Who are you? Sophie? Tanya?"

The girl just looked confused.

"You see?" said Emma, turning back to the Fuhrer.

"Her voice isn't Sophie's or Tanya's," said Robin. "It's somewhere in between…I've never heard anything like it."

"She's a completely new person!" said Emma firmly, as though daring the Fuhrer to say otherwise.

"And completely human," said Alim, stepping back. "Her approximate age is six years. She's healthy, as well, with no injuries or any sign of the virus that Sophie Derran was infected with."

"Well, this is something different…" sighed Mustang, leaning back in his chair.

"There was nothing on the roof," said Ed, coming in with Brand and Al. "Just this knife." He held out the small knife that had broken Dual Spirit's seal.

At the sight of it, the little girl cried out in fear and hid behind Emma.

"What in the world…?" said Emma, confused. "You know about the knife?" she asked the child.

"It's a bad thing…" said the girl softly. She looked over at Robin. "Like her."

"Why is it bad?" Emma asked.

"I don't know, it just is!" The little girl buried her face in Emma's shoulder and started to cry. "It's scary!" she sobbed.

"Interesting," said Alim. "She bears no sign of the blood seal, but she seems to remember Robin breaking it."

"It was an accident!" Robin objected. "Dual Spirit was going to kill Emma. I had to do something!"

Roy frowned and turned his attention to Ed. "You said there was nothing up there?"

"Just the knife." Ed answered. "No creature, alive or dead."

"It couldn't have just got up and walked away," said Emma, while comforting the little girl. "It couldn't even move."

"Are you sure you saw it in the first place?" asked Roy.

"Positive! Right, Robin?"

Robin nodded. "I could hear the noises it was making…it was horrible!"

"I don't like the sound of this," said Al.

Anna stood up. "You people can get to work anything else that needs to get done, but I'm taking these girls home—all three of them!"

"Blackpowder…" Roy began.

"See you tomorrow, Roy!" said Anna cheerfully, leading Robin, Emma, and the little girl out the door.

Leon raised his eyebrows and looked at the Fuhrer.

Roy groaned. "Yes. Go. Tell her I want a full report on that girl in the morning."

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"I'm going to call her Sonya," Emma announced as the group arrived back at the O'Reilly home. "In honor of who she used to be. How do you like that name?"

The little girl looked up at her and nodded. "I like that name!" she said happily.

"Sonya it is!" said Anna. "But what do we do with her?"

"It's probably not a good idea to keep her here in Central," Leon commented.

"She could come home with me," suggested Emma. "There's plenty of room back at the house."

Anna thought about that. "True…and Mama probably wouldn't object to another kid. She always liked having a full house."

Robin came downstairs from her hunt for old clothes for Sonya to wear. When she started to hand them to the child, however, Sonya shied away from her, still afraid. Robin went back upstairs without a word. Before long, a roll of thunder could be heard rumbling over the city.

"A storm?" asked Emma, helping Sonya put on the second-hand clothes. "But it was a pretty clear night…"

"That's no storm," said Leon, looking upwards at the ceiling. "That would be Robin."

"Say what?"

"I'll go talk to her," said Anna, heading up the stairs. When she came to Robin's room, she saw that the gable window was wide open, and she climbed through it onto the roof to find Robin sitting up against the chimney, making thunder.

A strip of cloth was tied around Robin's head, covering her eyes (which made no difference to her) and protecting her sensitive ears from the noise. She had on a pair of very thin gloves, and her hands were cupped together. She pressed her lips against her thumbs and blew, as if blowing into a whistle. A small transmutation circle across her thumbs started glowing, and a roar of thunder escaped.

Anna straddled the peak of the roof, facing her daughter. She reached out and took the cloth off Robin's head.

"What?" snapped Robin.

"You're upset that Sonya's afraid of you, aren't you?"

Robin sighed, pulled her knees up to her chin, and nodded.

"Wanna tell me what happened back at HQ?"

"I didn't even think twice, Mom," said Robin, speaking quietly. "I stabbed her. I killed Tanya. Sonya doesn't even remember any of that, but _I _do. I know why she's afraid of me, even if she doesn't."

Anna was silent for a while. "You know what I used to be afraid of, Robin? Frogs."

"Huh?"

"It's true. They scared the living daylights out of me, the way they jump up out of nowhere and stare at you with those bulging eyes…it's creepy."

"And…why are you telling me this?"

"Because my fear was pointless," said Anna, grinning. "I got over it eventually, and realized how silly it was. Just like when I was afraid to become a mother, the whole time there was really nothing to be scared of. Someday, Sonya will realize that too."

"I doubt it," said Robin, but she was already feeling less miserable.

"It will take a little time, but I know you know how to be patient. You're your father's daughter, after all." Anna started to slide back down the roof to the open window. "Are you coming down?"

Robin slid down after her mother, knowing exactly where to place her feet without having to feel her way or be told.

"You know," said Anna as they came back in through the window. "That thunder-whistle of yours is pretty cool. Did you design it yourself?"

Robin nodded, taking off her gloves and putting them into her pocket. "I want to get the circle tattooed on my hands so I won't have to keep using gloves."

"Not until you're 18," said Anna, promptly turning and leaving the room.

Robin ran after her. "Oh, come on, Mom! Just one little tattoo! Okay, technically two, but…"

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The next morning, when the train pulled into the station, Little John Johnson hopped off to see his younger sister waiting for him with a black-haired, purple-eyed six-year-old beside her.

"Please don't tell me you won her in a bet…" he said with a groan.

"No, it's kind of a long story," said Robin, walking up with her parents. "Emma can tell you everything on the way."

"For now, I'd like you to meet Sonya Johnson!" said Emma. "Sonya, this is your new big brother."

Sonya stared up at the young man. "He's a big big brother," she noted.

Emma laughed. "Yeah, but you'll get used to it."

"Um, okay then…Thanks for putting up with the gambler, Cannon Anna," said Little John, giving his aunt a hug. "Hope she didn't cause too much trouble."

"Trouble?" asked Anna, raising an eyebrow. "I wouldn't say _trouble_, per se…"

Little John glanced at his sister, who suddenly looked rather sheepish. "You've got some explaining to do, little sister." Emma nodded.

"Well, until next time?" said Robin, holding out her hand.

Emma shook it. "Maybe my next visit will be a little less…eventful."

"We can only hope."

"See you around, cuz!" called Emma as she, Sonya, and Little John boarded the train without further ado. Their train pulled away from the platform a few minutes later.

As they waved back at the O'Reillys, Emma thought she saw a barefooted teenager standing in the crowd…but when she looked again, there was nothing.

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_Tolly: Hn. How's that for an ending? Read and review!_


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